The Doctor Needs a Doctor
by A Madman in a Box
Summary: A multi-Doctor fic! Not just the Tenth and Eleventh, but the Eighth will be joining them as well. The universe is tearing apart, Rose has returned, and the Eleventh calls on his old self for backup and along the way they run into an even younger Doctor. Together, the three Doctors must fix the universe they may even end up rewriting time.


**-Eight- **

The Doctor had seen many things in his long, long life. He had seen civilizations rise and fall, people rise to greatness, and acts of unspeakable horror alongside those of indescribable goodness. The universe was a very vast, ever-changing plane of unfathomable things. He had learned so much about it, but there was still so much to see. Time could change, be shifted when acted upon by the right person at the right moment. The past, present, and future were all too familiar to him, except for his own future. That was a mystery. One that he could only discover by following time in the proper order. Regenerations awaited him, new lives, each one could last centuries. But in those centuries, he would see so much more. He himself would have a part in changing time and space. In his eighth life he had no idea what awaited him. He would face the horrors of war. War was coming, and accompanying it would be genocide. The destruction of an entire race... and entire world, and the Doctor, little did he know, would be the catalyst of such destruction

But time can be rewritten.

**-Ten- **

The Doctor's hands danced across the TARDIS control panel, flipping switches and pulling levers. Donna was watching him with her head cocked, wearing a quizzical expression. But the Doctor ignored her. He punched in some coordinates, seemingly at random, as he did many things. It wasn't until he had set the TARDIS into flight that he sighed and looked at Donna.

"What is it then?" he asked her at last.

"Why did that red light come on?"

"Red light...?" the Doctor's eyes wandered over to the TARDIS where he noticed a red flashing light on the controls. "That's weird... never seen that before-hang on, looks like it's got something to do with the monitor." He pulled the monitor down and activated it.

The screen came to life, revealing a man with dark brown hair parted on the left side of his face and combed to the right. He had a rather large nose and a very noticeable chin. A grin spread across his face when he saw the Doctor. As the strange man stepped back, the Doctor noticed he was wearing a long brown coat over a vest and button-up dress shirt with a... bowtie. Interesting look. Behind him stood a young, beautiful brunette who looked very confused. They stood in what seemed to be some kind of control room, much like the one the Doctor was in now.

"It worked!" the strange man exclaimed.

"Doctor," the girl said, "what worked?"

"Doctor," Donna murmured, "did she just call him Doctor?"

"Yeah," the Doctor answered, a sudden apprehension in his stomach. "What have I done this time?"

"Complicated," the other Doctor replied, "lots of wires crossing, rerouted some central systems, easy to reset-but-the end result is communication from the TARDIS to the TARDIS in a previous point in time! Brilliant, isn't it?"

The Doctor stared into the monitor, his eyes wide. "Wibbly wobbly-"

"Timey wimey!" finished the other Doctor with a bit too much zeal. "Anyway, look, you know I wouldn't be doing something this dangerous if it wasn't for a good reason."

"Then what's the good reason?"

"I'm not sure," he answered, "and by that I mean, something is happening but I don't know what it is."

"Stuff happens all the time that I don't understand, but that's not a good reason to start creating paradoxes!" the Doctor blurted.

"Well, yes, good point except... except you'll really want to see this..." The other Doctor insisted. He grabbed the monitor and adjusted it, revealing a third face in his TARDIS. A much more familiar face that broke his hearts: Rose.

"So," the other Doctor said, pulling the screen to face him again, "We need to address this situation. Do you remember when you... we... I met myself in the TARDIS when it collided with itself in midflight?"

"Erm... yes," the Doctor answered, unsure. "Wait, you mean after Martha left?"

"Right!"

"What about it?"

"We're doing it again, on purpose this time." the other Doctor answered.

"But that could tear a hole in the universe!" the Doctor argued.

"Yes, yes, size of Belgium-but look! There's already a hole in the universe! Rose is back and that doesn't happen every day. This is no ordinary situation or we both know this wouldn't be my-our- first course of action!"

The Doctor had a terrible feeling in his stomach. But he knew that future him had a point. "Fine," he said at last. "I'm putting down the shields and sending you my coordinates. Hurry."

The screen shut off and remembered at last that Donna was with him.

"What the hell just happened?" she demanded.

"Donna, you just met me. Well, not exactly me, but more or less," the Doctor answered.

"And what's that mean?!"

"Didn't I ever tell you I can regenerate? Change my face, bits of my personality, all that? Surefire way to cheat death, all the Time Lords can do it-well, could do it," he explained. "But still, even though I've changed I'm still the same person and the potential paradoxes that can be created by meeting a different version of myself would be catastrophic-well, it can be-well, it hasn't been before, exactly-well... I'm sure it could one of these days." he trailed off and turned back to the TARDIS controls, lowering the shields. "But here it goes!"

**-Eleven- **

The Doctor shut off the monitor and turned to face Rose. "You really don't know how you got here?"

"Not a clue," she answered, "one minute I was with my mum and dad the next minute I was here, in the TARDIS. You've remodeled."

"New face, new TARDIS," the Doctor said simply.

"Didn't change it last time," Rose recalled.

"Well... a lot has changed since then. People have come and gone, and not just you," the Doctor explained. "I thought it was time for a fresh start."

Rose fell silent and looked away.

"Rose, look," the Doctor rushed to her and caught her eye, "when I lost you I couldn't stand it. I never intended to replace you with Martha, or Donna, or anyone... nobody could, but I don't do well alone. It's lonely in the TARDIS without a companion."

"I... I know," Rose breathed, "but it's just so... different. You're different. I got rather attached to your old face. But I'm different to, I've been with the other you. I... it's all so..."

"Yeah," the Doctor answered, "it is."

Clara cleared her throat and the Doctor almost jumped. He had forgotten she was even here.

"So... introductions now?"

"Right," the Doctor gestured towards Rose and said, "Clara Oswald, Rose Tyler. Rose, Clara!"

"Good to meet you," Rose said with a smile, albeit a forced one.

"Same," Clara said, "so you were his companion before?"

"Yes." Rose answered.

"What... happened?" Clara asked.

"It's a really long story," the Doctor interrupted, "and we don't have time for long stories! We've got a universe to save!"

"What exactly is happening though?" Clara inquired. "I mean, a hole in the universe... I don't understand."

"The universe needs help," the Doctor replied, "it needs a doctor-actually, this time, it needs two."

"What about tearing a hole in the universe?" Rose asked, "That sounds... bad."

"Well, yes, potentially problematic-but-the universe already has a tear in it if you're here, so I figure any hole this creates can be fixed when we fixed whatever hole you fell through!" the Doctor explained, tapping away at the console, entering the coordinates the past Doctor had sent him.

"But you do have some sort of plan, right?" Clara asked.

"Not so much a plan, more like a thing. A thing in progress if you will," the Doctor finished entering coordinates and pulled the lever. "Well, Clara, Rose, here we go... Geronomo!"


End file.
